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Beasley First Quarter Net Revenue Rises 6.5%, 
Beasley Broadcast Group reports first quarter net revenues increased 6.5% from $23.3 million to $24.8 million. Station operating income grew 4.1% to $8.1 million, with operating income up 4% to $5.5 million. Net income was essentially flat at $2.4 million. The increase in net revenue was attributed to the strength of Beasley's stations in Philadelphia, Las Vegas and Fort Myers, Florida, and
the addition of KOAS/Las Vegas in the third quarter of 2012. Says Chairman and CEO George Beasley, "The solid first quarter revenue growth led to another period of SOI growth, as consolidated SOI increased 4.1% year-over-year. First quarter SOI margins also remain healthy at 32.7% but declined slightly from last year as station operating expenses rose due to our investments in our local sales teams. Beyond our company-wide focus on programming and ratings which serve as the foundation for the success of our on-air and digital advertising platforms, we continue to strengthen our balance sheet. During the first quarter, we made repayments totaling $1.0 million against the credit facility, reducing total bank debt to $115.7 million at March 31, 2013, from $123.4 million at the end of last year's first quarter."
FCC Approves Sales of CMG Stations in Six Markets 
The FCC has approved the proposed sales of Cox Media Group's clusters in six markets to two companies. The deal falls under CMG's broadcast portfolio realignment, announced in July of 2012, as part of their strategy to focus on larger markets. Connoisseur Media is acquiring CMG's outlets in Southern Connecticut, while SummitMedia is purchasing CMG's clusters in Birmingham, Greenville (SC), Louisville, Richmond (VA) and Hawaii. Included in the two deals are: Southern Connecticut: WPLR-FM, WEZN-FM, WFOX-FM and contract rights for WYBC-FM; Birmingham: WAGG-AM, WBHJ-FM, WBHK-FM, WENN-AM, WZZK-FM, WZNN-FM, WBPT-FM and CMG's contract rights for WALJ-FM; Greenville: WJMZ-FM and WHZT-FM; Hawaii: KRTR-AM and FM, KPHW-FM, KCCN-FM, KINE-FM and KKNE-AM; Louisville: WRKA-FM, WVEZ-FM, WSFR-FM and WQNU-FM; and, Richmond: WHTI-FM, WKHK-FM, WKLR-FM and WURV-FM. Says Cox Media Group President Doug Franklin, "These are all important brands powered by talented media professionals who tirelessly serve their audiences, advertisers and communities. We wish all of the employees well and know they will continue to work hard to produce quality entertainment, news and information for their customers and new owners." The sales are expected to close during the second quarter. Jeff Hurley Named Clear Channel Harrisburg Operations Manager Also Regional Program Manager for Harrisburg, Lancaster-Reading, Williamsport, Allentown 
Clear Channel Media and Entertainment (CCME) CHR-Top40 "B104" WAEB-FM, Allentown, Pennsylvania, Program Director and afternoon host Jeff Hurley is promoted to CCME Harrisburg Operations Manager, as well as Regional Program Manager for the Harrisburg, Lancaster-Reading, Williamsport and Allentown markets. The announcement comes from CCME VP and Regional Market Manager Dan Lankford, "I’m excited to announce that Jeff Hurley has accepted the position of Harrisburg OM and the region’s RPM effective April 29. Jeff will continue to oversee B104 while we search for a replacement." Hurley tells us, "Thank you to Dan Lankford, Jon Zellner, and Kevin Legrett for this unbelievable opportunity. I’ve been lucky enough to work directly with four of the markets within this region over the past 10 years, and I’m excited for the possibilities that lie ahead. The entire region is stocked with top-notch local talent who are the cornerstones of their successful brands. A tip of the cowboy hat to departing RPM/OM JT Bosch, who set an extremely high standard of success. I’ll miss my afternoon coffee conversations with Clear Channel Allentown Operations Manager Craig Stevens. We will have to set up Skype next to the Keurig!" Hurley was named PD of WAEB-FM, Allentown, in January of 2012. Previously, he was OM for Clear Channel’s Lancaster-Reading markets. As Hurley mentioned, he replaces JT Bosch, who recently moved to CCME Austin, where he's now Program Director of Country stations KASE-FM and KVET-FM. Clear Channel Tucson Names Lance Tidwell Operations Manager 
Clear Channel Media and Entertainment (CCME) Tucson names Lance Tidwell Operations Manager for its seven-station cluster, effective May 15. Tidwell will join the Tucson market from CCME Hartford-New Haven -- where, since 2009, he's served as Program Director for "Country 92.5" WWYZ-FM. In Hartford, he also supported the re-imaging and programming for WELI, WAVZ, WPOP and WUCS. "I'm thrilled to have someone with Lance’s caliber of talent join our Tucson team," says CCME Regional Market Manager Glynn Alan. "His leadership will help take our Clear Channel Media and Entertainment Tucson brands to new heights." Tidwell tells us, "I’m excited for the opportunity to grow my career with Clear Channel Media and Entertainment. I look forward to working with the Clear Channel Tucson's great brands and team." Prior to joining Clear Channel Tidwell was the Chief Operating Officer for Southern Star Broadcasting in Memphis, where he was responsible for the company's day-to-day business operations with a focus on strategic sales and programming operations. Tidwell's radio experience also includes previous stints at Jacobs Media and Citadel. AOL Music Shutting Down, Entire Staff Laid Off 
AOL Music is shutting down and the entire staff is being laid off. Dan Reilly, the editor of a music site owned by AOL called Spinner, tweets the news from an HR meeting where his staff was informed of the decision. Reilly posted on Twitter, "Well, we all just got laid off. AOL Music is finished." The Spinner account on Twitter also tweeted a similar report, according to a retweet: “All of AOL Music is shutting down. Thank you all for your support. We had such a blast.” That tweet has since been removed. It's currently unclear how many staff will be laid off and what deadline AOL is setting for itself -- although some reports indicate today (April 26) is the final day for AOL Music. "Given that the Spinner tweet was deleted, however, we can assume the company wasn’t yet ready to announce the shuttering publicly," reports TheNextWeb.com. Independently, we've also found that AOL Music Hip-Hop Editor Paul Cantor tweeted, "Just lost my job. Actually I'm in the room losing it right this second, while tweeting. So yeah, hit me with any opportunities." And, according to Mediabistro.com, "Spinner.com, a rock-music news site under the AOL Music banner, announced suddenly that it was shutting down. Minutes later, it said in a tweet that the entire music editorial division of the media giant, which owns The Huffington Post, was closing." The music and entertainment site Spinner was acquired by AOL on June 1, 1999, along with Nullsoft for $400 million. Based in San Francisco, California, it is considered to have been the first Internet music service. In 2002, AOL combined Spinner with its Netscape portal to form Netscape Radio and in 2008, Spinner was revamped by AOL as a music site, featuring exclusive interviews with recording artists, streams of albums and live performances, and free daily downloads. Nielsen CEO: Arbitron Merger Is '60 Days to 4 Months Away' 
Nielsen CEO David Calhoun says his company is nearing completion of the FTC's request for more information on its proposed acquisition of Arbitron, and while he won't speculate on how long it will take the regulators to review the documentation, says it should take "somewhere between 60 days and four months" for the FTC "to go through it." But, because this is "a regulator," it's hard to predict exactly how long it will actually take. During a Thursday conference call to discuss Nielsen's latest earnings report, Calhoun told a financial analyst, "We’re just going to do our best [to] respond. There's nothing about the documentation that we’ve organized and prepared that scares us." Last December, of course, Nielsen agreed to acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Arbitron for $48 per share in cash, representing a premium of approximately 26% to Arbitron's closing price on December 17, 2012. Nielsen said it had a financing commitment for the total transaction amount. At that time, the transaction was approved by the boards of both companies, but was subject to customary closing conditions, including regulatory review. Last week, Arbitron stockholders voted to approve the acquisition by Nielsen. Approximately 98.99% of the shares voting at a Special Meeting of Stockholders voted in favor of the agreement and plan of merger. These shares represented approximately 77.11% of total outstanding shares of Arbitron common stock as of March 8, 2013.
GOP Consultant Calls Rush Limbaugh 'Problematic' 
Republican consultant Frank Luntz calls Rush Limbaugh "problematic" -- but, at a talk to college students, would only chastise Limbaugh and right-wing radio off the record. In an unauthorized recording of an off-the-record presentation to University of Pennsylvania students leaked to Mother Jones online magazine, Luntz criticized conservative talk radio for polarizing political discourse and being "problematic" for the Republican Party. Mother Jones refers to Luntz as "the media-friendly Republican consultant and word wiz," as it reports that he told the college students that "right-wing talk radio" is "partly responsible for the stark polarization within the nation's political discourse." In the talk with Penn's College Republicans, recorded surreptitiously by a student after Luntz went off the record, the GOP consultant noted that while Democrats have "got every other source of news on their side," Republicans rely on talk radio, and noted that Marco Rubio is trying to find "a legitimate, long-term effective solution to immigration that isn't the traditional Republican approach, and talk radio is killing him." In the record Lunt is heard to say that Rubio is "getting destroyed by Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh and a few others” in conservative media. Luntz has been openly critical of the Republican leadership and image problems. At Penn, he criticized talkers as "irresponsible" for their positions about women and birth control, a reference to Rush Limbaugh’s controversial comments about Sandra Fluke. Entercom San Francisco Gets The Raiders 
The Oakland Raiders and Entercom "95.7 The Game" KGMZ-FM, San Francisco announce a multi-year agreement for KGMZ-FM to become the NFL team's radio flagship station in the Bay Area. Raiders programming will include pre-game and post-game shows, locker room reaction and listener phone calls. Also, there will be weekly call-in shows with Head Coach Dennis Allen and Raiders players.
Oregon Ducks Extend with Portland's '750 The Game' 
Alpha Broadcasting Sports Talk "750 The Game" KXTG-AM, Portland, and the Oregon Ducks announce a new multi-year extension for exclusive play-by-play coverage and rights for the Oregon Ducks football and basketball games. The Ducks are the teams of
the University of Oregon. Says Alpha COO Bob Proffitt, "With the truly National brand of Oregon Football, and emerging basketball, baseball, and really the entire sports programs in such an elite position, we could not be happier as the Portland
SAG-AFTRA Approves New Commercials Contract 
The SAG-AFTRA National Board of Directors approves the recently negotiated commercials agreements. The National Board unanimously approved the deal reached with the ad industry earlier this month on new radio and television commercials contracts. The new contracts will result in $238 million in wage increases and other payments for all categories of performers, improvements in cable use fees, increases in payments for work on the Internet and new media platforms, and an increase in the late payment fee. Formal negotiations between SAG-AFTRA and the advertising industry began February 14 and concluded April 6. "This is a great deal for SAG-AFTRA members. We made important gains on these contracts that provide our members with the solid foundation they need to sustain their careers and families," says National Co-President and Commercials Negotiating Committee National Chair Roberta Reardon. "I am very grateful to our negotiating committee which came together and worked as one to ensure a strong contract for their sisters and brothers who work in the commercials area." Meeting in Los Angeles, the merged union's Board also took action on several other items -- including an operational restructuring plan and multiple governance and administrative matters.
Behind the Microphone: The Ins and Outs of Radio
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From Mark Harris Broadcast Consulting
Friday, April 26, 2013
Friday's Radio & Media News - April 26, 2013
Meanwhile, we learn that the FTC is expected to consider implications on new media and advertising if it approves Nielsen's acquisition of Arbitron. According to a panel of experts polled by 
Says the announcement, "Every Monday during the NFL season will be re-branded on the station as 'Raiders Mondays.' 95.7 The Game is also the broadcast home of Oakland Athletics baseball. In the event of a programming conflict with A’s baseball, Oakland Raiders football will be heard on sister station KFOX-FM at 102.1 and 98.5." The agreement was negotiated by Compass Media Networks, owner and syndicator of the broadcast rights for all Oakland Raiders English language broadcasts. Compass Media Networks is responsible for all aspects of the broadcasts of all Oakland Raiders preseason, regular season, and post-season games on terrestrial radio. "95.7 The Game" has posted a full schedule of Raiders games to be aired for the coming season 
flagship station of the Ducks and we look forward to many more years to come."
University of Oregon's Director of Athletics Rob Mullens adds, "Alpha Broadcasting has been a great long-time partner covering Oregon athletics throughout the state. The capability to be covered in the state's largest metropolitan areas is important as we continue to expand our brand within Oregon and beyond."
Reports are circulating that Jack Diamond is missing from the website of Hot AC "Mix 107.3" WRQX-FM, Washington DC, and rumors are running strong that Diamond has exited the station after 24 years, but there's no official word yet from either Diamond or the station. Meanwhile, a reliable source tells us that Diamond will soon announce "an exciting new gig" ... Market veteran Joey Boy is in at Rhythmic CHR "101.5 Jamz" KZON-FM, Phoenix, as afternoon host and Assistant Music Director starting May 6, in a return to the market. He's previously been heard in Phoenix for close to a decade at crosstown "Power 98.3" KKFR-FM , first in afternoons, and then as morning host. Most recently, he was in Ventura, California at Rhythmic CHR "Q104.7" KCAQ-FM and sister "Live 105.5" KFYV-FM ... Alternative WKZQ-FM, Myrtle Beach, SC, replaces the syndicated "Free Beer and Hot Wings" morning show with ESPN Radio's "Mike and Mike" -- returning the show to the market for the first time since crosstown "Sports Radio 100.3 - The Team" flipped from ESPN Radio to the CBS Sports Radio network. After the dearth of "Mike and Mike" though, Myrtle Beach gets a double dose. WKZQ-FM's sister WRNN-AM (1450) splits from a simulcast with "Hot Talk 99.5" WRNN-FM to return ESPN Radio to the market, and will also air "Mike and Mike" in the morning.
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